Handstands, Grants & Words of Wisdom: Outdoor Retailer Recap
Feb 4 |
By Becca Dennis
Amber and I spent 3 fabulous, frenzied days at the Outdoor Retailer (OR) Trade Show in Salt Lake City a little over a week ago. The winter and summer OR shows give us a great opportunity to meet with our sponsors in person, spread the buzz about the NBR project, and hang out with all sorts of great people from the outdoor community.
Here are a few highlights from our weekend of sponsor meetings, laughs, wonderful people, handstands, sangria, and too many happy hours to count.
1. Polartec Awarded Us A Challenge Grant! We found out during Outdoor Retailer week and Polartec presented the awards to a number of the challenge grant winners at the show. We are giddy with excitement to be partnering with this company and brand. Check out the 2013 grant winners here.
2. Words of Wisdom: One of the best things about Outdoor Retailer is the wealth of knowledge and experience walking around that place. We had the pleasure of meeting with Rebecca Martin of National Geographic, the long time director of the Expeditions Council grant program. She left us with three very important pieces of advice– Never trust a mongolian dog, contrary to popular belief you can actually get traveler’s diarrhea from fried food, and make sure to bring LOTS of immodium. Thanks Rebecca!
3. We ♥ our Sponsors: From laughing hard with Mark Demming at NRS about how we can use their stainless steel flasks to get through Russian borders to mad brainstorming sessions with Emily Nuchols of Under Solen, hanging out with the great people that work at these organizations is truly the best part of the show. We met with many of our major sponsors including National Geographic, NRS, Keen, Goal Zero and Polartec.
4. Handstands=Happiness: It’s ALWAYS a good idea to do handstands at your sponsors booth to show your excitement, especially when it’s the Keen booth.
5. Teammates are awesome: I had the best time with my teammate Amber. I feel so lucky to have worked this closely with her. She is an incredible woman and has the most vivacious, adventurous spirit!
After all our hard work for the last 2 years every thing has come together and as we met with sponsors and talked to people about our project it was clear we really are on the downhill slope. Thank you to each of you for your energy and support on this leg of the journey!
